Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-05-04

take the evidence of the skeptic who stan DIS
aloof and confesses that he never took the
medicine? The Bible intimates that there
was city called Petra, bnilt out of solid
reck. Infdelity scoffed at it. "Where is
your city of Petra ?'' Burkhardt and La
horde went forth in their explorations, and
they came upon that very city. The noun
tains stand around like giants guarding the
tomb where the city is buried. They find
street in that city six miles long, where once
flashed imperial pomp, and which echoed
with the laughter Of light-hearted mirth on
its way to the theatre. On temples fash
Toned out Of colored stones-scme of which
have blushed into the crimson of the rose,
and some of which have darkensd into the
blue OF the sky, and some of them paled
into the Wilderness of the lily-God has writ
ten the truth Of the Bible.
The Doctor here proceeded to show how
the explorations Of the Dead Sea, of Min
even, OF Eylithea, and other archaeological
discoveries confirmed the truth of the Scrip
lures.
THE STYLE OF THE SCRIPTURES.
The Bible is the hive of all sweetness. It
is the armory of all well-tempered weapons;
it is the tower containing the crown Jewels
of the universe; it is the lamp that kindles
all other lights; it is the home of all males
ties and splendors; it is the marriage-ring
that unites the celestial and the terrestrial,
while all the clustering white robed denizens
of the sky lowering around rejoice at the
nuptials. This Book-iG is the wreath into
which are twisted all garlaDds; it is the song
into which are struck all harmonies; it is
the river into which are poured all the great
tides of hallelujah; it is the armament in
which suns, and moon, and stars, and con-
stsliations, and galaxies, and immensities,
and universes, and eternities, wheel, and
blaze, and triumph. Where is the young
mans soul with any music in it that is not
stirred with Jacobs lament, or Nahum's
dirge, or Habakkuk's dithyrambic, or Paups
march Of the resurrection, or Johns an
them, where the elders with doxology on
their faces respond to the trumpet blastpf
the archangel as he stands, with one foot on
the sea and the other foot on the land,
swearing by him that liveth forever and
ever that time shall be no longer?
will undertake to say that every great
book that has been published since the first
printing press was lifted has directly or in
directly derived much Of its power from the
sacred eracles. Goethe, the admired of all
skeptics, had the wall of his house at
Wcimer covered with religious maps and
of the Bible in blank verse. Tasso's
'Jerusalem Delivered" is borrowed from
the Bible. Sponsors writings are imita-
tions of the parallels. John Bunyan saw in
a dream only what St. John had before
seen in Apocalyptic vision. Maoaulay
crowns his most gigantic sentences with
Scripture quotations. Through Addison's
Spectator" there chances in and out the
stream that broke from beneath the throne
of God, clear as crystal. Walter Scett's
best characters are Bible men and wo-
men under different names. Meg Merrilies,
the witch of Endor. Shakspeare's Lady
Macbeth was Jezsbel. Hobbies stole from
this Castle of Truth the weapons with
which he afterward assaulted it. Lord
Byron caught the ruggedness and majesty
of his style from the prophecies. The writ
ings of Pope are saturated with Isaiah, and
he finds his most successful theme in the
Messiah. The poets Thompson and John
son dipped their pens in the style of the in
spired Orientals. Thomas Carlyle is only a
splendid distortion of Ezekiel. And wan
dering through the lanes and parks of this
imperial domain of Bible truth, 1 find all
the great American, English, German,
Spanish, italian poets, painters, orators,
and rhetericians.
CHRISTIANITY AND INFIDELITY COMPARED.
The speakers next point was to show
the utter meanaess of infidslity, which
takes away the Bible without giving any
substitute for it. He said:
There stands Christianity. There stands
infdelity. Compare what they have done.
Compare their resources. There is Chris
tianity, prayer on her lip, benediction
on her brow, both hands full of help for all
who want help: the mother of thousands of
colleges; the mother of thousands of asy-
lums for the oppressed, the blind, the sick,
the lame, the imbscile; the mother of mis-
sions for the bringing back Of the outcast;
the mother of thousands of reformatory in
situations for the saving of the lost; the
mother of innumerable Sabbath schools
bringing millions of children under drill
to prepare them for responsibility and use
fulness to say nothing of the great future
That is Christianity.
Here is lBfidelity: no prayer on her lips,
no benediction on her brew, both hands
lenched-what for? Tofght Christianity.
That is the entire business. The complete
mission of Iufidelity to fight Christianity
Where are her schools. her colleges, her
asylums of mercy? Let me- throw you
down whole ream of fools-eap paper that
yOu Ahoy III ctl VI II WILL tu6 AduleS VI u6T
benefcent institutions, the colleges and the
asylums, the institutions of mercy and of
learning, founded by Infidelity, and sup
ported alone by Infdelity, pronounced
against God aud the Christian religion and
yet in favor of making the world better
''Oh." you say, "a ream of paper is too
much for the names of these institutions. :"
Well, then, throw you quire of paper
Fill it all up now. l will wait until you
get all the names down. ''Oh," you say.
''that is too much" Well, then, will
just hand you sheet of letter paper. Just
fill up the four sides while we are talking of
this matter with the names of the merciful
institutions and the educational institutions
founded by Inidelity and supported ali
along by Infidelity, pronounced against
God and the Christian religion, yet in favor
of humanity. ''Oh," you say, shat is teo
much room; we don't want whole sheet
Of paper to write down the names" Per-
haps l had better tear out one leaf from
my memorandum and ask you to ill
up both sides of it with the names of such
institutions. son." you say, that would
be too much room; you wouldn't want so
much room as that" Well, then, suppose
you count them on your ten fingers. "Ob,"
you say, ''not quite so much as that
Well, then, count them on the fngers of
one hand. Oh" you say, I'VE don't want
quite so much room as that" Suppose,
then, you halt aud count on one finger the